The Dawn of Innovation: The First American Industrial Revolution

473 Pages·2012·5.35 MB·English

by  Charles R. Morris

Table of Contents

ALSO BY CHARLES R. MORRIS
Title Page
Dedication
Introduction

CHAPTER ONE - The Shipbuilders’ War
A War of Honor
The Lake Arena: Early Stumbles
Industrial War in the Wilderness
Chauncey Rules Ontario: October 1812 to May 1813
Countermove
Some Not-So-Close Encounters: Ontario, Summer–Fall
1813
The Battle of Lake Erie
The Arms Race Escalates
The Battle of Lake Champlain
Denouement

CHAPTER TWO - The Hyperpower
A Very British Industrial Revolution
The Longitude Problem
The Quest for Truth
The Millionth-of-an-Inch Measuring Machine
Charles Babbage
And It Worked
The Portsmouth Block-Making Factory

CHAPTER THREE - The Giant as Adolescent
Affordable Clocks
Samuel Slater Rips Off the British
But Lowell Invents a New Kind of Company
The Locks & Canal Company
The Keiretsu Extended
Of Shoes, Stoves, and Steam Engines

CHAPTER FOUR - American Arms
The Crafts of Gun Making
Eli Whitney’s Reputational Thrill Ride
Pistol Maker to the Nation
The Military Thinks Long Term
The Machine Geek
The Quest for the Holy Grail
The Significance of Armory Practice

CHAPTER FIVE - The Rise of the West
Nascent Colossus
Striving
The Western Steamboat
Anxiety
The Coming of the Railroads

CHAPTER SIX - America Is Number Two
The Queen City of the West
Porkopolis
America’s First Chemical Industry
. . . And Mass Production of Furniture
Steamships
Baldwin Locomotive
Corliss Engines
Hoe Printing

CHAPTER SEVEN - On the Main Stage
The Great Race
Elisha K. Root
The Amazing Samuel Colt
The London Armory
The Expansion of Armory Practice
America in 1860: On the Brink
CHAPTER EIGHT - The Newest Hyperpower
Infrastructure
The First Middle-Class Nation
Leaving Britain Behind
While England Slept

CHAPTER NINE - Catching Up to the Hyperpower
The Pleasures of Starting in Second Place
Challenges
Can China Cope?

APPENDIX - Did Eli Whitney Invent the Cotton Gin?
IMAGE SOURCES, CREDITS, AND PERMISSIONS
Acknowledgments
NOTES
INDEX
Copyright Page
ALSO BY CHARLES R. MORRIS
The Sages : Warren Buffett, George Soros, Paul Volcker, and
the Maelstrom of Markets
The Trillion Dollar Meltdown: Easy Money, High Rollers, and
the Great Credit Crash
The Surgeons: Life and Death in a Top Heart Center
The Tycoons: How Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, Jay
Gould, and J. P. Morgan Invented the American Supereconomy
Money, Greed, and Risk : Why Financial Crises and Crashes
Happen
American Catholic: The Saints and Sinners Who Built
America’s Most Powerful Church
The AARP: America’s Most Powerful Lobby and the Clash of
Generations
Computer Wars: The Fall of IBM and the Future of Global
Technology
The Coming Global Boom: How to Benefit Now from
Tomorrow’s Dynamic World Economy
Iron Destinies, Lost Opportunities: The Arms Race Between
the United States and the Soviet Union, 1945–1987
A Time of Passion: America, 1960–1980
The Cost of Good Intentions: New York City and the Liberal
Experiment, 1960–1975
To Bob Gordon and Carolyn Cooper, scholars and
gentlepersons